. >> someone who knew trevor when he was a lawyer for john mccain, agenda was a pretty important job, nothing like being a lawyer for stephen colbert. maybe one day i can say i work for comedy central, too. people will be impressed. i just want to give a brief overview. this is out to a graphic we ran in "time" magazine at the end of july this summer, trying our best at that moment in time to project that where the money would come from and what the differences would be in terms of the various sides. the point we're trying to make, one that there is a real difference in political money strategy that these campaigns are employing this cycle. the obama campaign is heavily reliant on small dollars, individual dollars, regular and money, that is contributions $2500 from individuals. the campaign has total control over it and can spend it as they want. the exception here is a priority u.s.a. which can barely see because of the chairs, which we are saying maybe would make 60 million, earlier they want to make 100 minute and had to pare that back. there just weren't a lot of wealthy liberal

, wrong again, bob. eight out of the last nine presidential debates, gore-bush, bush-kerry obama-mccain won by the democrats. they were polled right after the debates the american people every single time. well eight out of nine, hey you know what, the democrat is the clear winner. so you never see that in the media. oh, my god, i got to be neutral so i'm going to ignore the facts and be neutral. i don't think that would help mitt romney's cause. god for bid if you looked at his promise, they're horrible. riddled with factual problems. so what in the world should mitt romney do? he's this far behind. he doesn't have the facts on his side. his programs sucks. his party is unpopular. let's do a fun exercise here. i'm going to tell what you i would do if i were romney. now, since mitt romney can't really defend his own position, his tax plan is a gigantic win for the rich. he doesn't care about 47% of the country, and the list goes on and on. i would go on the offense. how do you go on the offense against president obama? you can't attack him from the right wing position, because obama is

his primary debate brett o'donnell. o'donnell also preparing john mccain for his debate against president obama. he tells bill o'reilly what mitt romney will need to do in order to come out on top tonight. listen to this. >> the burden in the debate is on the governor, or am i wrong? >> i think you are absolutely right. while the challenger gets elevated by being on the stage with the president clearly the president is on the mountain top. he won the last set of debates. there has to be a compelling reason for change. governor romney has the burden of proof. >> you prepped john mccain for his debate with barack obama. mccain held his own but didn't bring the debate to the president mccain never brought it to him. this guy doesn't know what he is talking about he is talking in generalities but that didn't get through to the electorate who liked obama and still likes obama. >> that is one of the reasons he has to go on offense. >> we will see tonight. coverage starts at 8:55 eastern time with megan kelly and bret baier. they will be live from denver. >> now test time for the 5@5:3

senator obama and senator mccain to address each other and answer some of the questions. >> let's go back to my question. how do you stand on the recovery plan? talk to each other about it. we have five minutes. we can negotiate a deal right here. do you favor the plan, senator obama? senator mccain, are you in favor of this plan? >> we have not seen the language yet. i think there is constructive work being done out there for the viewers who are watching. i am optimistic. the question i think we need to ask ourselves is how did we get into this situation in the first place? two years ago, i warned that because of the relaxed regulation, we would potentially have a problem in trying to stop the abuses and mortgages that were taking place at the time. last year, i wrote to the secretary of treasury to make sure he understood the magnitude of this problem and to call on him to bring all the stakeholders together to try to deal with it. the question i think we have to ask ourselves is yes we have to solve this problem short term. we will have to intervene. there is no doubt about it. but we

differences right away from the last debate. governor romney is taller than john mccain. actually 7 inches. mommy is 6-foot 2 inches tall senator mccain 517 inches and this time president obama is the shortest at 6-foot 1 inch and seven may be his lucky number he is also seven years younger than senator mccain but still 14 years older than obama first of all, street stocks closed with gains encouraging economic news dow jones industrial average of auto plants smb of five and nasdaq 15. adp better than expected 162,000 jobs this services sector at expanding the fastest europe and china pushes crude oil prices lower dropping at $88 the biggest decline in four months hewlett-packard's stock is down 13% after meg whitman predicted earnings will fall 10% next year. turning to the debate william joined by the chair reince priebus. -- . things looks at. i am ready that. >> i will sneak in candy bars and enjoyment on may setting the country straight. the president is conning the country the economy is then the ditch the debt is out of control. everything he promised four years ago across am

the campaign in 2008, at the first debate between john mccain andarack obama, wchashis dat f years ago, the focus was the war. in fact, both wars. >> do you, senator mccain, much has been said about the lessons of vietnam. what d you see as the lessons iraq? >> i tnk the lesf iraq are very clear that you cannot have a failed strategy. thanks to this great general david pa ttr,hey are succeeding and winning in iraq. >> whether we should have gone into the war in the first place. six years ago i stood up and opposed this war. we hadn't finished the job in afghanistan. we hadn't caught bin laden. we hadn't put al qaeda to rest. and as aconsnc i thought that it was going to be a distractio now, senator mccain and president bush had a very different judgment. >> so that was this date, 40 days out from the election in '0and 40 days out from the election in '04. in '04 the campaign was consume e of our wars. 40 days out from the election in '08, in the midst of the financial meltdown the campaign was consumed with both of the wars. now it's 2012 and we're 40 days out from the election thi

they are preparing and trying to lower expectations. >> senator mccain and president bush had a very different judgment. >> reporter: mitt romney and president obama are no strangers to debates. combined participated in dozens of debates over the past two election cycles. a lot is at stake this wednesday in denver. >> i would put medicare and social security in a lock box. >> reporter: in 2000, algore held an 8 point lead over george bush before the first debate. right after his lead vanished, the two were tied at 43. this year, each side is making efforts to lower expectations. this memo obtained, is written by romney advisor, beth meyers, she talks glowingly about the president's debate record, siting where americans declared him the winner over john mccain each time. you make your opponent out to be unbeatable, regardless of what is said, you can declare a victory of sorts. >> how are the candidates getting ready for the weekend? >> reporter: there is going to be a lot of studying going this weekend, mitt romney is going back to boston, actually you might remember he has been gett

assumptions. mitt romney would have to get double john mccain's margin of 18 points. could have to up to 36 points. that is if it does not change. d, ands does get realize if the white college graduates face about the same, it means that met romney would have to get north of 40 point margin of the white voter. let's take a look of where we are now. this is the gold standard. breaks. this shows that obama is leading by 8 points. if you look at the averages, it is a bit high. the averages are running about four points. you are probably up by five points. this is within the averages. it is similar to the pole from the heartland monitor which will talk about later. overall top line, a look at the margin, 91 points. that is basically identical. 7222 among 852 margin. most have been showing this. what this means is that the idea that obama could get 80% of the minority vote is quite logical based on these and other data that looks like what he will get. this shows you the break out for college graduates. , obama is doing a little bit better among white graduate voters than he did in 2008. amon

preparing for his first presidential debate against john mccain. both candidates right now, mitt romney and barack obama, no doubt, very nervous. i'm nervous, just looking at that picture. diane? >> okay, jake. i will see you tonight for the big event. and i want to bring in co-anchor of "good morning america" and anchor of "this week," my co-anchor tonight, george stephanopoulos. such a night after this long road. what are these two men thinking right now? >> reporter: probably exactly the same thing. tonight, don't take the other guy's bait. play your game. but there is more pressure on mitt romney tonight. you look at the polls right now, he's behind nationally, probably behind even more in the battleground statements. he needs a circuit breaker and he probably has to do something that gives people that say right now they're voting for the president, to give him a second look. >> give all of us a viewer's guide to what they are prepped to do. >> reporter: watch for almost every time mitt romney gets a question, he will try to turn it back to president obama's record. and make preside

across being able to say your policies, mr. president. >> sean: remember john mccain did not look obama in the eye. i mean, if there's certain characteristics that you want to lay out for somebody heading into a debate, he's got to be presidential. probably can't call him a liar, but could point out broken promises, failed policies. >> "there you go again" works pretty well. >> sean: or some version thereof. i think people would like to see somebody -- i've never seen this president take a verbal punch. >> i also think people want to know that mitt romney can win the argument. i mean, i think part of the reason you see in the campaign in the doldrums a little bit for two weeks is that people want somebody who's going to stand and fight. margaret thatcher, prime minister thatcher, used to say, first you win the argument, then you win the vote. that's i think the challenge that romney faces. >> sean: mr. speaker, good to see you. >> good to be with you. >> sean: glad you're here. when we come back, a devastating new ad is coming up. we'll have that for you. it deals with the banghaz

manage company money with the oversight. a lot of people coming together with big ideas. john mccain, senator from arizona talking to us right here about real ideas. he tells us exactly what is going on as it pertains to how we get the country back in order. plus, very first u.s. ambassador to iraq, a lot of businesses who wanted to jump right in to help rebuild iraq because it can make them a lot of money. how has that come along. ashley: we look forward to it. the cme group, the nymex. let's begin, thank you for joining us at the nyse. look, the initial economic data was pretty miserable, but the market is not really responding. >> clearly nobody's paying attention to the u.s., it is all about china, the additional stimulus and all of that. traders really have found this market to be quite oversold taking the opportunity to ride on the back of good headlines because that is all that is driving us is headlines. make some money. i think they're taking a little bit of money off the table at the end of the day. ashley: are we due for a correction anytime soon? >> you're hearing a lot f

the united states congress is the mccain-feingold campaign finance reform bill. thathe reason it's important is that all of the other issues, whether prescription drugs for all seniors that are opposed by the drug companies or the patient's bill of rights to take the decisions away from the hmos and give them to the doctors and nurses, opposed by the hmos and insurance companies, all these other proposals are going to be a lot easier to get passed for the american people if we limit the influence of special interest money and give democracy back to the american people. and i wish governor bush would join me this evening in endorsing the mccain-feingold campaign finance reform bill. >> you know, this man has no credibility on the issue. as a matter of fact, i read in the "new york times" where he said he co-sponsored the mccain-feingold campaign fundraising bill. but he wasn't in the senate with senator feingold. and so, look, i'm going to -- what you need to know about me is i will uphold the law, i'm going to have an attorney general that enforces the law. the time for campaign fu

candidates have experienced. president obama's last debate was against senator john mccain in the fall of 2008. while governor romney has had nearly two dozen debates during that gop primary. the obama campaign says the president's strategy is focused on shorter, crisper answers. the romney strategy, as reported in "the new york times" has the governor memorizing a series of zingers to try to hit the president with. let's bring in our "news nation" political panel for this monday. democratic strategist chris, national radio host michael, and also an msnbc contributor, and villa skype as you can tell from our shot there, steve, conservative radio show host. you have the visual disadvantage because you're skype. i'll let you start off first here. let me play what paul ryan, completely opposite of what chris christie said this sunday. his assessment of the debates. let's play ryan, please. >> i don't think one event is going to make or break this campaign. look, president obama's a very -- he's a very gifted speaker. this is mitt's first time on this kind of a stage. >> it's no secret, st

john mccain went on david letterman to ratchet up the fear and further perpetuate that lie. the second phase is iraq. there is some indication and i don't have the conclusions but some of the stands are actually may and i have said may have come in from come from iraq is that right if that may be the case and that's when some tough decisions are going to be they and tough decisions were made weren't they mccain ok so the bush administration knew that the anthrax attacks were an inside job at this point and that the strain could have only come from their bases but they never held a private public press conference apologizing to the american people for promoting such a dangerously false narrative about muslim terrorists being responsible and even worse that saddam hussein was somehow involved so who was responsible well for years up to. the anthrax attacks the f.b.i.'s main suspect was steven hatfill a member of the government that helped develop a biological weapons facility at fort dietrich maryland but instead of pursuing a criminal investigation based on actual evidence agains

will remember. >> joe the plumber. >> reporter: like john mccain's invitation of an ohio plumber who questioned mr. obama's tax plan four years ago. >> in the third debate, john mccain repeatedly alluded to joe the plumber, and the allegation that barack obama #-r would share the wealth. >> reid: jamieson says that gave mccain a boost in the polls, but as mccain later learned, even a memorable debate moment carries a candidate only so far. the live tv audience for the first obama-romney debate is expected to be about 60 million people. that's roughly half the number expected to vote in the election. the combination of shrinking finances and rising crime is forcing drastic change on camden, new jersey, a small city just across the delaware from philadelphia. tony guida has the details of a reorganization plan that would take veteran cops off the beat permanently. >> reporter: if camden had its own postcards, the picture would look look a lot like this-- police responding to the scene of a crime. with just 77,000 residents and 1500 violent crimes and 48 murders this year alone, camden

really know this turf because you worked for john mccain when he ran against barak obama in 2008 and now in the primary season, you worked for mitt romney. let's assess the governor's strengths and weaknesses as a debater first. strengths? >> well, i think the governor is a very good messenger. he's a good orator, he can deliver a speech. he's very good when he's on message and on offense. as you saw in the debates in florida against newt gingrich when he got on offense, the governor was very effective. when he leans into a debate, he can be pretty effective. >> bill: all right. weakness? >> weaknesses, when he gets -- like most every politician, when he gets defensive, that's when he makes mistakes. the $10,000 bet came when governor romney was being defensive about his health care policy and there have been other instces where other debaters have been able to get him on the defense and when that happens, he tends to look bad. >> bill: all right. you know that president obama is going to try to do that. he's going to question his health care criticism, his flip flops on various issu

man who has debated both 2012 candidates republican senator john mccain, and then the risk of being the frontrunner with obama's senior advisor david axelrod. plus, polls, ads, and early voting. with republican strategist alex castellanos, and cinderella and congressional correspondent dana bash. i'm candy crowley. this is "state of the union." >>> it would not be debate season if the political world and the campaigns didn't play the expectations game. >> the president is obviously a very eloquent, gifted speaker. he will do just fine. >> the president's campaign manager jim mecina called romney a very skilled debater and in an open memo to interested parties, senior advisor david axelroad just as he was in the primaries, we expect mitt romney to be a prepared, disciplined, and aggressive debater. joining me now is someone who knows a thing or two about expectations and debates, republican senator john mccain. a little trip down memory lane there. >> i think both candidates are well prepared, and understandably, you'll see their sur gats lowering expectations. i don't know how our g

general counsel to john mccain during the senator's presidential campaigns in 2000 and again in 2008. t trevor potter is with the law firm of caplin and drysdale in washington, and he's the founding president of the campaign legal center, that's a non-partisan group committed to "representing the public interest in enforcement of campaign and media law." all very impressive, but let's face it, these days trevor potter's greatest claim to fame is as the man who keeps stephen colbert out of jail. he advised colbert on how to create his own super pac and then to set up his more clandestine 501 (c) (4). take a look. >> so how do i gets me one, trevor? >> well, lawyers often form delaware corporations, which we call shell corporations, that just sit there until they're needed. >> like, so some anonymous shell corporation? >> right. and, and i happen to have one here in my briefcase. >> let's see it. >> so -- >> okay, what's it called? >> it's called, "anonymous shell corporation." >> "anonymous shell corporation" filed in delaware? okay, i got this. so now, now i have a (c) (4)? >> right. no

senators that are saying farewell. see what he says about george w. bush and john mccain. this is "the daily rundown." i am chuck todd. let's get to the first reads of the morning. in the last two weeks, we polled in nine battleground states deciding the election. ohio, florida, virginia, colorado, iowa, wisconsin, north carolina, nevada, new hampshire. bad news for mitt romney, he doesn't lead in a single one. at best within the poll's margin of error. at worst, trails by eight points. this morning, how the nine states stack up. we said it again and again. the president's job approval rating may be the best indicator of where the bout may be. where it is more than 50, the president favored to win. iowa, florida, new hampshire, ohio, virginia, his approval rating below that, 47 or 48 in four. colorado, nevada, north carolina, wisconsin. here is a second way to breakdown the numbers. romney struggled with favorability number all year. that number underwater, more voters have unfavorable than favorable view in six states. romney is in positive territory in just three. florida, north

mccain. and he's had no debates in between and it just makes a difference. i can tell you from my own experience. >> back in 2008, the president had plenty of debate practice. sometimes, it showed. >> straight talk express lost a wheel on that one. >> sometimes, it didn't. >> he's very likable. i, i agree with that. i don't think i'm that bad. >> you're likable enough. >> thanks. >> that was a smackdown so unlike his nice guy image, the obama team still considers it one of the standout errors of 2008. tonight, his team says, the president will push mitt romney on specifics. >> he come to this debate with a heavy burden to finally put out those details of where he wants to take this country. >> a message his sparring opponent echoes. >> and about substance? >> sure. want to know. i want to know what's going on. >> policy. >> people are interested in the situation there in america, the challenges we face. sure. >> candy, today happens to be an important day for president obama for another reason. it is the obama's 20th wedding anniversary. no doubt they are having a wedding moment in th

that candidates remember like john mccain said bonn from a plumber that question president obama >>> john mccain alluded to joe the plumber and that barack obama would share the wealth >>> that give matt cain a boost in the polls but as matt cain learned even a memorable debate moment carries a candid only so far. the live audience for the first debate expected to be about 60 million people, half the number expected to vote in the election. chip reid cbs news >>> a look of the debate scheduled the first to bed wednesday in denver, on october 11th vice-president biden and paul ryan will lock horns in danville, kentucky, then two more presidential debates and hampstead new york and boca raton florida. a new poll shows proposition 38 that would earmark funds for schools appears to be headed for defeat an l.a. times poll shows 34 percent of voters favored the tax 52% oppose it it will affect most californians the measures wealthy backer has spent $30 million on the campaign. a competing measure supported by gov. brown will raise taxes only on the wealthy doing better, proposition 30

deficit. and frankly senator mccain voted for 4-5 of president bush's budgets. >> senator obama, i am not president bush. if you wanted to run against president bush you should have run four years ago. chris: there's an example of a well-prepared -- we knew, i'm sure senator mccain knew that was coming. you notice how he did that automatically? this time around it's more dangerous, isn't it? for president obama to blame a guy four years ago. >> yeah, because people are going to say, what did you do lately? you've had four years to fix the economy and look at the economic malaise we're still in. look at the jobs reports. last month, adding 96,000 jobs. not even enough to keep pace with population growth. chris: we put the first debate to the matthews meter. 12 of our regulars, including john, kelly and howard is mitt romney more likely to break through wednesday night on style points or on substantive arguments? nine say substance. three say style. you voted with the majority. howard, -- >> well, he's got to do it. again, deftly with humor. but he's got to brace the president. he's got

debate between the president and john mccain got seven times the audience of the highest rated 2012 republican primary debate. think about that. seven times. past debates show romney and obama have to worry about cut away shots that are less than flattering. in the past both candidates have come across as irritable, patronizing or disengaged. this was chris christie's advice to the candidates yesterday. >> what you do is go out and be yourself. and people either like it or don't. if they don't, they are going to vote for somebody else. not a tragedy. no one dies. >> finally speaking of debates, there was a barn burner last night in massachusetts where scott brown and democratic challenger elizabeth warren faced off in a debate. moderated by nbc's david gregory. it was tense from the outset. >> if you're going to comment on my record, i would at least have you refer to it -- excuse me. i'm not a student in your classroom. please let me respond, okay? >> that was an echo of a quip brown used in 2010 when he told martha kwaurkly i'm not in your courtroom, i'm not a defendant. i the two

stated plainly what was obvious to many, including senator john mccain, who joins us shortly, almost from the beginning. >> as we determined the details of what took place there and how that attack took place, that it became clear that there were terrorists who had planned that attack. >> the best we can tell, this is the first time any administration official has uttered the word "planned" to describe what happened. asked how long it took to reach his conclusion, secretary panetta said quote, it took awhile once information from benghazi came back. but keeping them honest, multiple sources now tell "360" that officials knew this was a terror attack almost from the get-go within 24 hours. at least intelligence officials. yet this is what they were saying for more than a week publicly after the killing. >> it's important to know that there's an fbi investigation that has begun, and will take some time to be completed. that will tell us with certainty what transpired, but our current best assessment, based on the information that we have at present, is that in fact, what this b

actually be competitive in this race, mitt romney would have to get double john mccain's margin of 18 points among the white working class in this election. that's youth turnout doesn't change among minority's despite the shifts in eligible voters. if this does get realize, let's say minority vote share goes up by couple of points, 26% as was in 2008 to 28% in 2012, and again if the white college graduate and minority support stays about the same, it means mitt romney would have to get north of 40-point margin among white working-class voters to actually win the election, to win the popular vote. so let's take look at where we are now based on a reasonable came out. it's the gold standard for polls. a pew research center. no one else -- no offense to anyone else in the room who has april. they really do it right. it's pretty reliable stuff. they give you a lot of interesting demographic breaks tradition as among likely voters that obama is leading now by eight points. if you look at the average of the national polls as a bit high relative to the average. the average has been runnin

call. i remind you mitt romney gave john mccain 22 years of tax records which tells me he's much more enthusiastic about being vice president. it's the bill press show. we'll be right back. dose of politics from a fresh perspective. >>i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. >>only on current tv. >> this is the bill press show. i'm john fugelsang. we are back on the air. i'm putting my breakfast to the side. normally, i try to sneak food in the commercial breaks. i learned from stephanie miller that it's actually very professional to eat on camera. >> i was going to wait for you to take a bite and ask your question. >> if you'd like to watch someone eating during a radio show on t.v., stay tuned. the stephanie miller show follows and you can watch them go crazy. that's really the food network. we're taking your calls at 866-55-press. our last caller, paul from seattle made good points about governor romney's tax returns. my two theories about why he doesn't want his tax returns released on the surface he doesn't want folks to know he's this wealthy and makes all this money with

few points better than wind mccain ran in 2008 and he is doing no better at all among white college graduates. that is one reason why the state is at this point looking pretty favorable toward barack obama. he could carry it by as much as he did in 2008. and also, if you look at it geographically obama is doing very well in the columbus area, which is kind of the slim support where it counts. o.c. investors and a lot of other states. the grace to the pennsylvania which, again, if their romney team could have put pennsylvania in place it would have been the key to a lot of other things. but the problem for them now is that pennsylvania is looking very difficult for them. obama is barely running in eight or nine or ten. average margin. it's just not happening. again, it comes back to what appeared to be the big coke, that they could drive up the white working-class margins in that state. 2008, a 15-point of vantage for john mccain, but the polls coming out of pennsylvania again and again show is not doing any better than-15. so basically the state is looking very similarly in terms of